Tar Heel Pros News & Notes

D. WILLIAMS JOINS WOLF IN IDAHO

*Joe Wolf is preparing the Idaho Stampede for the start of the Continentel Basketball Association season and has former North Carolina star and national champ Donald Williams on his training camp roster. The Idaho roster also includes former Utah star and NBA player Britton Johnsen along with UConn's Taliek Brown and Jeremy McNeil from Syracuse.

Coach Wolf will also be taking part in the "Stampede Radio Show" on KTIK 1350 AM (www.ktik.com) every Saturday morning during the season from 9:30 to 10 (Idaho time). The Stampede begin the CBA 2004-05 schedule on Friday against the Yakima Sun Kings.

COTA VS. WILLIAMS IN RUSSIA

* Former Tar Heels Ed Cota and Shammond Williams couldn't have imagined the setting for their first meeting as pros.

It took place last week about 4,750 miles from Chapel Hill when Cota's Dynamo St. Petersburg team visited Williams' team -- UNICS Kazan -- in the Russian Republic of Tatarstan, with both teams off to 4-0 starts in Russia's Superleague A.

Williams came up with 11 points, nine assists and seven rebounds to help his team to an 86-76 win over his former teammate. Former UNLV star Kaspars Kambala paced Kazan with 29 points on 12-of-16 from the floor.

Cota had nine assists and eight points in his first loss of the season in the battle against Williams. The rematch will be in St. Petersburg (the northernmost major city in the world) on January 22.

Another high profile former ACC player has been added to the Russian Superleague. Dynamo Moscow has signed former Duke star Trajan Langdon, according to the team website.

CURRY MAKING CATCHES

* Former Tar Heel football and basketball star Ronald Curry has now compiled 31 receptions (two for TD's) and 370 yards for the Oakland Raiders (3-6) through nine games of the NFL season. Curry probably enjoyed being off for the bye week on Sunday, but he also had plenty to like about last week's trip to Charlotte.

The Raiders ended a 13-game string of road losses with a 27-24 victory over the struggling Carolina Panthers. Curry had four catches for 63 yards (15.8 avg.) including a 19-yard grab for a first-down around midfield that led to the eventual game-winning field goal.

Curry was also glad his mother was able to see the game in person. Deborah Curry lives in Virginia and refuses to travel by airplane, according to the Contra Costa Times. "She's not going to get on that bird," Curry said. "She might catch a bus out to Oakland, but I won't let her do that."

Curry also has become the third-down receiver for QB Kerry Collins. "That's the down I know that I'm always going in," he told the Times. "First and second down I'm in sometimes, but not that often. So I always prepare myself for third down."

The rested Raiders play San Diego (6-3) on Sunday.

FINGLETON TO THE FRENZY?

* Former Tar Heel Neil Fingleton could be headed to the Boston Frenzy of the American Basketball Association. A recent article about the team's preseason training camp in The Standard-Times noted that "the team is also hoping to bring in 7-6 Fingleton" and that he recently had a deal to play in Greece not work out and is still checking out offers from overseas.

If Fingleton does sign with the Boston Frenzy his coach will be former NBA player Joe "Jellybean" Bryant, also known as Kobe Bryant's father. The Frenzy already have two 7-footers trying to make the team, Terry Sellers (Iona) and Dave Korfman (UC-Irvine). Virginia's Keith Friel is also in the mix for a Frenzy roster spot, according to the article.

Boston is supposed to start the ABA season on Wednesday against Harlem in New York, but the ABA's schedule is always tentative at best.